
MEADE 


ODD FELLOWSHIP 


ORATION 


DELIVERED IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 


PHILADELPHIA, APPvIL 26, 1859, 


BY JAMES B. NICHOLSON, P. G. M 


OF THE GRAND LODGE OF PENNSYLVANIA, 


CV U. S. STEAM-POWER BOOK AND JOB PRINTING OFFICE, LEDGER BUILDINGS.'/) 

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mGMWnWJ^WAL'TER-mGLIEHREaTZPEnmrG.KWEEKS. 






ODD FELLOWSHIP 



AN 


ORATION, 


DELIVERED IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 


JfoitidI) |iimil)crsatj, |. ®.0f #.J. 


IN THE UNITED STATES, 


PHILADELPHIA, APPvIL 20, 1859. 


BY JAMES B. NICHOLSON, P. G. M. 


OF THE* GRAND LODGE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

tr. S. STEAM-POWER BOOK AND JOB PRINTING OFFICE, LEDGER BUILDINGS. 

1859 ., 



/72 

COKRESPONDENCE. 


Philadelphia, April 21th, 1859. 


James B. Nicholson, Esq., 

P. G. M., G. L. of Pennsylvania, I. 0. of 0. F. 

Dear Sir and Brother: — We, your Brothers, Otficers and Members 
of the E. W. Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, desire of you, for publication? 
a copy of your truly eloquent and excellent address, delivered 26th April, 
on the occasion of celebrating the Fortieth Anniversary of our beloved 
Order. Trusting you may comply with this sincere request of your co- 
laborers in the great enterprise of fraternal association. 

We are yours in the bonds of F. L. and T. 

ELIAS WILDMAN, M. W. G. M., 

M. KICHAEDS MUCKLE, E. W. G. T., 
HENEY JOHN WHITE, W. G. C., 

N. B. AECHAMBAULT, W. G. G., 

JOHN C. GAEWOOD, P. G., No. 262, 
THOMAS J. BUTLEE, P. G., No. 5, 
ALEXANDEE PHILSON, P. G., No. 29, 
GEOEGE C. HOSTEE, P. G., No. 99, 

WM. F. EACKLIFF, P. G., No. 13, 


From other engagements we had not the pleasure of hearing your oration, 
yet we most cheerfully unite in the request for its publication. 


EOBT. M. FOUST, P. G., No. 237, 
E. BOOTH, P. G., No. 29, 

W. W. JENKINS, P. G., No. 46, 
JAMES STOKES, P. G., No. 188, 
JOHN L. YOUNG, P. G., No. 61, 
WM. TEEDENICK, P. G., No. 443, 
E. J. FOUGEEAY, P. G., No. 100, 
WM. E. MASON, P. G., No. 5, 
CHAS.W. PACKEE, P. G., No. 237, 


S. P. MAETIN, P. G., No. 237, 
GEO. BEETEAM, P. G., No. 190, 
AMOS BEIGGS, P. G., No. 223, 

E. G. CHOEMAN, P. G., No. 201, 
JAS. BINGHAM, P. G., No. 127, 
JOHN G. MONEY, P. G., No. 470, 
SAM. C. FEEMPT, P. G., No. 262, 
JOHN C. BEEEY, P. G., No. 256, 

F. J. KEFFEE, P. G., No. 17. 


Philadelphia, April ^^th, 1859. 

Worthy Sirs and Brothers: — In compliance with your request a 
copy of my address is placed at your disposal, in the hope that it may prove 
to be “for the good of the Order.” 

Truly your brother, 

JAMES B. NICHOLSON. 

To E. WiLDMAN, M. W. G. M., M. E. Muckle, E. W. G. T., Henry J. 
White, W. G. C., and other Brothers. 







ORATION. 


Most Worthy Grand Master, Friends and Brothers: 

An innocent, angelic maiden went through the world 
upon errands of mercy, plainly attired ; possessing no out- 
ward attraction, save a sweet face and graceful figure, she 
was passed almost unnoticed by the gay, thoughtless world. 
Travel worn and weary, she sought for shelter and repose, 
she knocked timidly at the doors of the great, hut her 
sweet, low voice, could not reach their ears ; pampered 
menials drove her scornfully away ; she entered the abodes 
of poverty and saw despair written on human brows. In 
a miserable tenement, the home of destitution, a wretched 
woman was nursing a dying infant, its shrunken, attenuated 
form was sinking from the pangs of hunger, into the repose 
of death ; when the little head fell quietly hack, the poor 
mother looked quickly up, and, through blinding tears, 
caught a glance of the pitying countenance of the maiden ; 
she felt as if an angel in passing had touched her with its 
wings, the look of the maiden seemed like radiance from 
heaven. 

In sorrow, the maiden traveled on, yet sometimes her 
countenance would he overspread with joy, so varied were 
her experiences. One day a gilded chariot, drawn by 
prancing steeds, whose feet seemed to disdain the earth, 
dashed swiftly by, the chariot was filled with a gay and 
joyous group. Mirth and Pleasure were holding high 
revelry. Selfishness drove the steeds, whilst Care stood 
upon the footboard ; almost blinded by the dust raised by 
the rolling wheels and trampling hoofs, the maiden closed 


4 


her eyes for a moment, she opened them again, and saw a 
poor man lying upon the ground; the gay chariot had 
crushed him to the earth. A few humble toilers soon 
gathered around ; the maiden bade them, and they carried 
the poor man into a neighboring hut ; they brought water 
from an adjacent brook and washed away the matted gore 
from the poor victim’s brow. Under the teachings of the 
maiden, the rough toilers became gentle, tender and affec- 
tionate in their bearing toward the sufferer, and when the 
pale form of his wife bent over him, a tear stood in every 
manly eye, each toiler contributed his mite towards re- 
lieving the physical wants of the wife and children. The 
maiden stood lovingly by ; she at length led the rough 
sympathisers to an open window, pointing to the blue 
expanse above, she told them of their own home, of their 
destiny, of the concealed springs in all human hearts, of 
many things that to them were both new and strange, and 
when she left them to return from whence she came, the 
rough, unseemly toilers, solemnly agreed to meet together 
often, to refresh their memories with the sweet maiden’s 
words, to perform the deeds that she commanded in order 
to win the glorious reward she promised. Ueed we tell 
you, that the gay chariot was the world, that the angelic 
maiden was Charity or Love, and that the rude toilers were 
called Odd Fellows by their fellow men. 

From an origin so humble, that its birth is involved in 
obscurity, yet so modern that it can scarcely be traced be- 
yond the latter part of the last century. Odd Fellowship 
gradually spread from the manufacturing districts of En- 
gland, until forty years ago it sprang into existence upon 
the shores of America. Kow ! the woodcutter in the for- 
ests of Maine, the miner amid the golden sands of Cali- 
fornia, the emigrant in Oregon, as well as the dwellers in 
the teeming cities, throughout the land, unite in celebra- 
ting this memorable day. Our halls dot the towns, the 
villages, and many portions of the open countiy, that 


5 


rejoice in being a component part of the great American 
confederacy. Tens of thousands minister before the altars 
of our Order, bow to the mild tenets of its ritual, and are 
witnesses of the truthfulness and efficacy of the doctrines 
it proclaims. This wonderful external progress has been 
accompanied with corresponding internal changes, thereby 
fitting the Order for a wider and nobler sphere of useful- 
ness, by making it conform to an advanced view, of the 
material and moral needs of the age. Progress thus became 
a prominent characteristic of the institution, leading to 
successive fundamental reforms, until the Order has taken 
a high position among the benevolent and moral institu- 
tions that claim to be the human adjuncts of Christianity. 

To Past Grand Sire Thomas Wildey belongs the honor 
of being regarded as the Father and Founder of America n 
Odd Fellowship; for although other Lodges had been self- 
instituted, he was the first presiding officer of Washington 
Lodge, 'No. 1, organized in Baltimore, on the 26th of April, 
1819, the fountain from which has emanated the extended 
affiliation, now known as the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. Its records show that the Grand Lodge of the 
United States has, under its jurisdiction, thirty-nine Grand 
Lodges, located in the respective States and Territories of 
the Union, and in Canada, in active operation, subordinate 
to which there are three thousand three hundred and 
ninety working Lodges, composed of one hundred seventy- 
six thousand members. The sum of four hundred sixty- 
seven thousand dollars was disbursed during the past year, 
for the relief of distress, the burying of the dead, and the 
education of orphans. Where can we find a parallel to 
this history of benificence, comprised as it is in the life-time 
of its founder. Yet our Order has just reason to anticipate 
still greater conquests, more glorious victories, until its 
ranks are swollen to millions, and its disbursements surpass 
human calculation. Who can estimate the value of world- 
wide F)'aternity^ which is but another name for Love ! 


6 


“ If faith and hope and kindness passed as coin ’twixt heart and heart, 

How through the eye’s tear blindness, would the sudden soul upstart, 

The dreary, dim, and desolate would wear a sunny bloom. 

And love would spring from buried hate, like flowers o’er winter’s tomb. 
This world is full of beauty, as other worlds above, 

And if we did our duty, it might be full of love.” 

We base our hopes of the future spread and increasing 
usefulness of the Order, upon its past history, its present 
condition, its adaptation to the wants of mankind and on 
the truthfulness and grandeur of its principles. It is not a 
mere theory ; no Utopian scheme ; nor an etfete Institution, 
hut a vigorous, practical effort to illustrate upon the arena 
of daily life, the principles of action that should govern 
man, in his intercourse with his fellow man. Odd Fellow- 
ship is a living expedient of human progress, an experiment 
tried in this our day and age, to ascertain whether stand- 
ing as we do upon the high mound of privilege, we are 
sufficiently elevated in our desires, and impressed with so 
high a sense of our duties, as to practically illustrate and 
exemplify to each other the “golden rule” of human 
action, the simple, sublime law of brotherhood and frater- 
nity. If we are worthy of this high emprise, we can hasten 
the time when a generation will live up to their professions, 
act out their belief “when the lion and the lamb shall lie 
down together” when the wilderness of man’s nature shall 
bud and blossom like the rose, when the mountains of 
pride, prejudice and bigotry in human hearts shall melt 
like icebergs in the tropics, beneath the power of Love. 

Odd Fellowship does not consist in the regalia of the 
Order, in its commodious halls, its triumphal processions, 
or in its means and modes of recognition, these are but 
finite agencies, the mere scaffolding upon which the work- 
men are engaged in adjusting the stones of a moral temple 
that is more enduring than the pyramids ; instrumentalities 
are temporal, but character eventuates into the eternal. 
Odd Fellowship consists in its principles, and in their ^mc- 
tical application to the ills to which humanity is subject; it 


K 


-•I- 




T 


consists in the grandeur of the sentiments that underlies 
its efforts for the good of our race, and in its demand upon 
its fervid disciples for a corresponding generosity of soul. 

Odd Fellowship is the handmaid of religion, for which 
it expresses the most profound veneration. It does not 
pretend to occupy the place of the Church, or to fulfil its 
divine functions, hut addresses itself to the human rela- 
tions which Religion teaches, that all men hear to each 
other, and urges the perfect fulfilment of those obligations 
as productive of human happiness. The Order is not a 
vehicle for the conveyance of sectarianism, but it subscribes 
to the doctrine that underlies all creeds, ‘‘ Grood will to 
man.” It interposes no barrier between God and man, it 
admits the supremacy of the Church in matters of faith, 
and allows every man to worship at his own altar, but de- 
mands the practice which should follow. The Order is a 
silent reproach to the infidelity of belief, by illustrating 
the practical duties of those who profess, but are waiting 
for the millenium before they put their professions into 
practice, who tacitly declare that to carry the Gospel into 
the Exchange, the Ofiice, the Market, and the Street, is an 
impossibility, thus virtually charging God with being a 
hard master, of commanding what cannot be performed ; 
such infidelity should be discarded. Religion demands 
more than a cold assent. Let bigots quarrel about creeds, 
but let the earnest man, alive to conscience, portray the 
effects of what the Apostle declared was pure and unde- 
filed religion,” “to visit the widow and the fatherless in 
their afiliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the 
world.” 

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a beneficial, 
charitable, and moral institution, it combines in itself all 
the best elements of a Health Assurance Society, super- 
added to which it inculcates in the most impressive man- 
ner the teachings of Charity, and the advantage and 
necessity of intellectual and moral culture. Upon the 


8 


payment of a small sum weekly, every member of the 
Order is entitled to a stipulated weekly allowance when 
sick ; this is claimed and given as a rights as the fulfilment 
of a contract, the sick brother receives his own, and no one 
demurs at the rightful claim, no self-respect is wounded, no 
feelings of shame engendered ; there is a marked distinc- 
tion between the payment of a debt and the claims of 
benevolence. The prominent advantage of this provident 
relief consists in its being well timed, it advances upon the 
first approach of trouble, it strives to keep the man upright 
and independent. This principle of mutual helpfulness 
and mutual relief is one of the prominent characteristics 
of the Order, it is not the noblest of them, for should the 
amount awarded prove insufficient, then hearts instinct with 
the teachings of our ritual speak in the holy name of 
Charity, and the doors of our treasury open responsive to 
the call. 

The benefactions of genuine, unostentatious Odd Fel- 
lows’ Charity, conceal no sting, they open no wound 
afresh, they crimson no brow with honest shame, but 
bound together in fraternal ties, connected by the electric 
chain of brotherhood — sympathy— send its thrilling message 
to every heart. The secret, tender charities of the Order, 
fall like the gentle dew from heaven, refreshing the wasted 
and the parched, bidding the down trodden flowers of the 
field, revive, and clothing a sterile world with millenial 
verdure. 

In order to give full scope to the comprehensive teachings 
of Charity, Odd Fellowship has laid the corner stone of a 
mighty temple, in which all nations, tongues and creeds 
may worship in concord and in peace — ^the corner stone, 
the great fundamental doctrine of Odd Fellowship is — The 
Universal Fatherhood of God, and the consequent Bro- 
therhood OF Man. On this doctrine Charity builds her 
strongest claims upon human sympathy, from it springs 
Toleration, and every virtuous, refining thought and 


9 


feeling, that has a tendency to render men less selfish, and 
more human, by elevating the standard of humanity higher, 
and still higher, until man — man universal — attains to that 
position in the scale of created intelligences, which it was 
intended he should occupy, a “ little lower than the angels/' 

Odd F ellowship erects a world-wide platform, upon which 
all good men may stand, irrespective of country, party or 
creed; discussions upon questions, in relation to which 
men are divided into parties and sects are discountenanced, 
but the principles upon which all creeds and parties agree, 
are made the basis upon which they can act in harmony 
for the benefit and welfare of mankind, "With the classifi- 
cations, the dollar distinctions of human society, our Order 
is antagonistic ; they are not permitted to enter our sanc- 
tuaries. Viewed in the light of a common brotherhood, how 
puerile and pretentious seem the distinctions, the afiecta- 
tions of society. Far nobler is that spirit which, recognizing 
no distinctions save those that exist between virtue and 
vice, strives to elevate the humble and purify the haughty, 
to develop the latent, hidden energies and afiections of all 
hearts, to bring into active play and continued co-operation 
every aspiration for improvement, sending round the world 
its mandate of help to the needy, accompanied with the 
injunction, to regard the body as the physical basis of that 
higher moral life, that dwells in the heart, the conscience, 
in good thoughts and in good deeds; in a word, that the 
immortal mind is man. 

Ignorance and crime, destitution and misery abound 
upon every side ; the scafiTold, the jail, the pauper’s asylum 
cast their gloomy shadows on the earth, whilst in the by- 
ways of our cities there exists an amount of vice and 
wretchedness scarcely conceivable, and which defies the 
ingenuity of the philanthropist to remedy. Human laws 
merely attempt to restrain vice, they have no cure for the 
evil, but is there no remedy for the evils of society, no hope 
of the extirpation of brutal passions and savage instincts ? 


10 


Will the abodes of wealth and refinement for ever he en- 
circled with the hovels of the destitute, the miserable homes 
of the pariahs of social life; will advancing civilization 
continue to produce from its bosom monsters, as heathen 
like in their practices as the inhabitants of the South Sea 
Islands ? There must be an antidote, if there be truth in 
prophecy, and any ground for the faith we have in civili- 
zation, in the dignity of manhood, and the perfectibility 
of human character. 'No mere theory will accomplish this 
end, however truthful and beautiful it may appear ; it must 
be a direct and practical application of the great truths 
which have been enunciated as the only remedy for social 
evils. In things human as in things divine, ‘‘no other 
foundation can man lay than that which has been laid.” 
Christianity is the foundation of all true reforms, its com- 
mands are, to “ Love thy neighbor as thyself,” to “do unto 
others as ye would that others should do unto you.” 

Law implies penalty ; the violations of these simple but 
sublime ethical laws are attended with consequences to 
society that are fearful to contemplate, even in professedly 
Christian lands. There must be a radical change in the 
elements that constitute society; nothing less than the perfect 
fulfillment of all the relations of the individual to God, to 
himself, and to his fellow man. Society can be regene- 
rated, mankind improved, by correct moral principles being 
difiused through, and acted upon by the masses ; by con- 
verting the great body of negative belief into positive practice, 
bringing the highest code of ethics down to the humblest 
walks, the every day pursuits of human life. 

To be an Odd Fellow in spirit and in truth, requires 
something more than mere membership, something beyond 
being in “good standing” upon the Secretary’s books, 
more even than an active participation in the duties of the 
Lodge room. Whilst it is necessary for the perpetuation 
of the Order, and the moral discipline of the individual, 
that he should attest his devotion by his attendance at the 


11 


Lodge, sharing its labors, running with ‘‘willing feet” 
upon its errands of charity, and speaking its sympathetic 
language to the distressed Yet the world is the Odd 
Fellow’s great field of labor. He is nothing, if not a man 
speaking hy example, a seeker after truth, in order to improve 
his mind and elevate his character, to increase his capabili- 
ties for good, and to extend the sphere of his affections. 
Standing in his place, no matter how humble it may he, as 
a friend to every effort that has a tendency to improve the 
physical and spiritual condition of mankind, a good citizen, 
a pure patriot, an unselfish philanthropist, thinking justly 
and heartily upon all the great questions which affect man’s 
fraternal relations ; he thus becomes a constant benefactor 
to his race, and contributes hy his actions to the final estab- 
lishment of the great Republic of Humanity. 

Time would fail in an attempt to enumerate a tithe of 
the examples which could he adduced of the advantages of 
the Order ; the history of every Lodge is replete with them. 
Let them remain untold — it is better that the Order be pre- 
judged hy its enemies, than that a single recipient of its 
bounty should he pained hy the revelation of its henificence, 
for the world looks upon the dispensations of Charity as 
alms-giving to paupers. Yet there are some illustrations 
which can be given without violating any obligation, or 
causing pain to any sensitive mind. Let one suffice. 

During the late war wdth Mexico, whilst the Pennsylva- 
nia Regiment under command of Colonel Wynkoop, was 
stationed at the Castle of Perote, skirmishes were continu- 
ally occurring with the Guerillas ; one day two American 
soldiers were wounded and carried hy their comrades to 
the hospital, one of them belonged to a Regiment of the 
United States Infantry, his home was in Burlington, Iowa, 
the other was a volunteer in the South Carolina or Palmetto 
Regiment ; after some time had elapsed, the man from 
low^a was declared to he convalescent by the physician, and 
permitted to leave the hospital ; he immediately waited 


12 


upon Col. Wynkoop, and requested permission to remain 
in the hospital to nurse his comrade ; the request though 
an unusual one was granted, the circumstance attracted the 
Colonel’s attention, and in his rounds he always stopped to 
converse Avith the volunteer and his nurse. One night the 
Colonel was awoke by the guard, who informed him that 
there was a man dying in the hospital, Avho wished to 
speak to him. The Colonel immediately repaired to the 
hospital, where he found the young soldier of the Palmetto 
Regiment rapidly sinking into the ranks of the dead ; he 
had however strength enough remaining to place in the 
Colonel’s hand a packet of letters, and asked him to for- 
ward them to his mother and sisters. I have secured to 
them all the property that I possessed, accept my thanks 
for your kindness, write to them ; when I am dead tell 
them if I have done my duty as a soldier, and of this, my 
friend, Avho has stood in their place.” The Colonel prom- 
ised compliance Avith his wishes, and in a short time the 
A'olunteer expired. The Iowa man was kneeling by the 
bedside, AAutli the hand of his comrade clasped in his OAvn, 
The Colonel touched him upon the shoulder, and he arose. 

Who is this man ? What do you know of his family and 
friends ?” The soldier replied that he did not know, except 
what his comrade had told him, that they were strangers 
until they had met in the hospital. “Why,” said the Colo- 
nel, “ this is singular, you come from different sections of the 
country, Avere unknoAvn to each other, but your devotion is 
not unknown to me. I know of your daily sacrifices, the 
giving up of many necessaries for yourself, in order to 
procure little comforts for your comrade ; this is something 
so different from Avhat I am accustomed to witnessing in 
camp, that I Avould like to knoAV the reason.” The man de- 
murred, until the Colonel laid it upon him as a command, 
when he said, what you have doubtless surmised, he was a 
brother Odd Fellow, 

The pathos Avith which Col. Wynkoop narrated this 


13 


incident, in my hearing, carried me in imagination to the 
sunny South, to a village in the Palmetto State, at the time 
when the postman delivered the packet with the Coloners 
letter. I saw it borne to the mother, her look of agony as 
she read how her brave boy, on whom she had lavished so 
much love, and for whom she had such bright hopes for 
the future, had been wounded; had lingered some time 
and died, in a soldier’s hospital. Oh ! she exclaimed, 
that I could have wiped the death damps from his brow, 
that his sisters, that he loved so dearly, could have minis- 
tered at his bedside, she read on, the Colonel’s words of 
commendation, and then how a comrade, a rough soldier, 
had stood by her boy, in the place of those who loved him, 
and were loved in return, that this soldier whose humanity 
had been the solace of her son, was also an Odd Fellow^ 
then methought, mother and sisters knelt together, and in 
the midst of their anguish called down a blessing from 
heaven on the soldier, and on the Order that had so firmly 
impressed its principles on the mind of a disciple, that he 
had lovingly exemplified them when surrounded by all the 
brutalising influences of war. We believe that in this, as in 
all other cases, the genial, affectionate influences of the 
Order secure to it woman’s sympathy, and woman’s 
prayers, when she sees it illustrated, as she often does, in 
the domestic circle ; it is this belief, and having confidence 
in the righteousness of our purposes, that has caused us to 
inscribe upon our banners, the motto of our Order — lx 
God we trust.” 

In addition to the great advantages of the Order, in its 
ministrations to the sick, its relief of the destitute, in its 
moral teachings, and its intellectual aids, whereby it com- 
mends itself to the Christian and philanthropist, it is also 
deserving of the encomiums of the patriot, for its truly 
conservative and national character, its bond of fraternity 
strengthens the links of the American Union. At the 
Annual Sessions of the Grand Lodge of the United States, 


14 


every State in the Union sends its representatives, to legis- 
late for a brotherhood, spread over a continent. The 
representatives return to their homes with the feeling of 
fraternity strengthened, their regard for their brothers of 
the various States increased. If ever there be a struggle 
before the altars of our common country, the last ones that 
will be deserted are those altars round which Odd Fellows 
gather. 

It is gratifying to us as Pennsylvanians to know that the 
largest number of members under any State Grand Lodge, 
are in this jurisdiction, that Pennsylvania occupies the same 
position in Odd Fellowship, that it does in the federal 
Union, the keystone of a glorious arch. 

Brothers, you are the true expounders of Odd Fellow- 
ship, its living apostles; the world will judge the Order by 
your actions, and remember also that the all-seeing eye of 
God is continually watching over you ; bear ever with you 
a high sense of responsibility, the unconscious marks of 
those who have ministered in the temples wherein Love 
stands enthroned, supported on one hand by warm, heroic 
Friendship, and on the other by clear eyed Truth. You 
may by living up to the standard of our ritual, by the con- 
sistency of your practice with your professions, erect a 
monument of gratitude upon human hearts that will pierce 
the heavens. 

“A single virtuous action, hath more worth 
Than all the pyramids, and glory writes a more enduring epitaph 
Upon one generous deed, than on the Sarcophagus 
In which Sesostris meant to sleep.” 

Brothers, much is expected at our hands ; let us strive to 
realize all just expectations, remembering that individual 
effort is necessary to combined success ; posterity may justly 
expect that we bequeath to them, not only unimpaired but 
increased, the inheritance we noAV enjoy, so that the Order 
for successive generations, with all its powers and. instru- 
mentalities, may be used as a lever to be inserted beneath 


15 


the moral framework of society, for the elevation of our 
race, until the time shall arrive when every man in every 
place shall meet a brother and a friend, when universal Love 
shall be shouted and re-echoed from valley and mountain 
top, when the nations of the earth shall unite in chanting 
that grand anthem, first heard by the shepherds of Galilee, 
‘‘ Glory to God in the highest, on the earth, peace and 

GOOD WILL TO MAN.” 

Brothers, Come on, let us march side by side and shoulder 
to shoulder together in our moral warfare against vice, 
until selfishness which now rules the world shall come 
“ tumbling like a tyrant from its throne,” and heaven born 
charity ascend the pedestal, commanding the valleys to be 
exalted and the mountains to be laid low, transforming the 
world from a desert of despair to a garden of delight. 
Animated by faith in man’s future history 

“ I can conceive a time when the world shall be 
Much better visibly, and when as far 
As social life and its relations tend 
Men, morals, manners shall be lifted up 
^ To a pure height we know not of, nor dream 

When all men’s rights and duties shall be clear 
And charitably exercised and borne ; 

^ When education, conscience, and good deeds 

Shall have just equal sway, and civil claims 
Great crimes shall be cast out as were of old 
Devils possessing madmen,*- Love shall reign 
Humanity be rethroned, and man sublimed.” 




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